New Hadco LED Fixtures

[SamIV]

Anyone familiar or used any of the new line of LED fixtures by Hadco. Looks like Hadco is using fixtures already in production, but using LED's as the light source. Come on Sitelights, you are close with these guys, have you tinkered with these yet.

Sam IV

[sitelights]

Coincidentally I had a date for lunch with Lew Waltz the week of January 17th but a series of Winter storms got in the way. Hadco's PA HQ is in Littlestown about 75 miles from me. Lew, as you know is Hadco's VP for landscape lighting. The LED equiped fixtures would have been one of the topics covered. My conversations and email exchanges with Lew are only about technical and conceptual topics and we never talk "business" per se. I will have that lunch with Lew but he is in TX most of the time so the window of opportunity has not yet re-opened.

I saw the full page ad in one of the landscape magazines and I must say that I was not elated by what I saw which to my eye are simply standard fixtures with standard socket bases (SCB I would guess) to hold an array of LEDs mounted on that base. If I am wrong and the LEDs are hardwired that is another story entirely.

Anticipating for the moment that the Hadco LEDs are mounted on an SCB socket you can get my take on this configuration by keying LED into the search engine.

Contrast the adaptation concept which simply reconfigures an existing fixture by replacing one cheap socket with another with a truly innovative product that would eliminate the socket entirely. A vast improvement would be to have the LED array hardwired to the fixture lead: a point of failure is eliminated.

Since LEDs generate very little heat there is really no need for a socket and the array could be butt spliced to the 16 or 18 gauge lead wires. Claims of longevity of LEDs are as high as 100,000 hours but currently I would call it more like 20,000 hours before the light output begins to fall off. That lower number still computes to 10 years of dusk-to-dawn operation so the possibility of socket failure during that period is about 200%. The 200% is meant to represent two socket failures in 10 years unless the socket is purpose built for outdoor applications which is currently not the case.

In the Fixtures Forum there is a post (and poll, the first on this site) illustrating a very small LED fixture that is almost certainly hardwired; there doesn't appear to be space for a socket within the housing. I have contacted the company that makes the "Diaphane LED luminaire" and asked for a sample to be reviewed. My only concern is that LEDs be compatible with AC current rather than DC only. Another hardwired LED fixtures is covered in the Product Review Forum as "EasyTron". Both of these fixtures claim "luminosity" but Hadco is claiming "illumination"; a very large difference in meaning and performance if you search the words.

[sitelights]

Hadco's BL series now includes the BLN5D4 and the BLW5D4 Bullyte. The sample on my desk is the BLW5D4-A which is the BL5016 body and stem with a 4-array 12v, 12.4w "Type III Luxeon" LED assembly instead of the bi-pin type GU5.3 porcelain socket rated at 50w max.

Over this weekend I will be taking a very close look at this luminaire but in the meantime you may want to look at the "misLED" post for test procedures.

[sitelights]

Hadco's BL series now includes the BLN5D4 and the BLW5D4 Bullyte imaged below at actual size. The sample on my desk is the BLW5D4-A which is the BL5016 body and stem with a 4-array 12v, 12.4w "Type III Luxeon" LED assembly instead of the bi-pin type GU5.3 porcelain socket rated at 50w max. The MR-16 version was reviewed as "Hadco old & new..." in this forum.

Over this weekend I will be taking a very close look at this luminaire but in the meantime you may want to look at the post "misLED" in the Lamps (light bulbs) & sockets Forum for test procedures. Those who were on the edge of their seat wondering whether this is a retro-fit application (to fit existing sockets) may now relax; it is hardwired and fixture specific.

I used the same test procedures as outlined in "misLED" with the exception that the moderating medium was one thickness of white 20 lb bond paper and the voltage an unregulated 12.16v AC. The light meter LED array registered 750 FC, the MR-16 BAB 950 FC and direct sunlight 1600 FC. The light output of the LED array was blue-white to about the same degree as HID auto headlights when compared with halogens. I was pleasantly surprised when I fired up the LED array; the output was too bright to look directly into the LEDs for more than a second or two. Of course one can say the same about the MR-16 BAB.

The specifications printed on page 89 in Hadco's current 216 page "Landscape Lighting Specification Guide" HNL0105-130 includes a photometric diagram for both the BLN5D4-A ("narrow" 12 degrees) and the BLW5D4-A ("wide" 25 degrees). Comparing the photometric data for the LED fixture and (on page 101) the MR-16 BAB (20w 40 degrees) at 10 feet yields 5.2 vs 4.6 FC while at 20 feet the FC achieved are closer at 1.3 vs 1.2 The demonstrated improvement in efficacy (cost per watt) however has a hefty price.

Since Hadco's specs are achieved under laboratory conditions and my results were recorded on the workbench in my garage I suggest that the values given by Hadco are more accurate than my crude method.

Now that it has been determined that the Type III Luxeon 4 LED array provides improved performance compared to the BAB lamp it is appropriate to explore other factors.

Clearly the LED Bullyte draws less power at 12.4w vs 20w and the claimed life is 50k hrs vs 10k hrs for recent "long life" MR-16 20w lamps. There have been 10k higher watt MR-16s available for some time but the 10k rated 20w is of recent development. Taking these claims at face value yields a 25 year lamp life (at 2k hrs/yr) or a 5 year lamp life. Using a $0.10/kWhr energy cost factor the LED array uses 7.6w less energy than the 20w MR a savings of $1.39 per year ($2.26 vs $3.65 at 2k hrs/year).

The savings (assuming a constant $0.10/kWhr) total $34.75 but of course the MR has had to be replaced 4 times. I will now make a bold assumption: something that lasts 5 times as long will probably cost 5 times as much so using a purely theoretical $10.00 purchase price for the MR would yield a $50.00 price for the upgrade. Of course these are merely nominal figures since the actual upcharge is likely to be more than double at an approximately $100.00 adder.

Realisticly LED technology and increasing use will slowly reduce the cost of LED arrays but this will not happen until they become the automotive headlamp of choice. My crystal ball tells me that this will not happen. Only volume will reduce price. The application of relatively low wattage LED arrays will not be cost comparable for many years since automotive lighting will segue to a single-source (one light generator to illuminate all lights via fibre optics) and thus not provide the motive to drive low output costs down. Why would this not happen? A rhetorical question.

Note that MR and other halogen lamps are display lamps not automotive lamps. Low (10-20w) output halogen lamps never made it into the automotive realm; the auto makers bypassed low output halogens and went from miniature incandescent to LED and you can bet that the profusion of light points will drive the market to a single light engine whether is will be HID, LED or a new technology such as the development of filament types that produce 90% light and 10% heat instead of vice versa.

The sole and costly advantage of LEDs in low voltage landscape lighting applications is in the labor associated with the inevitable lamp replacements. Those 4 replacement MR lamps referred to above cost more to replace in time, travel and labor than the lamps themselves. The future of LEDs is already here and has gone directly to the DIY market in the "indicator" (illuminates only itself) or "luminous" type fixtures. High output LEDs for the DIY segment will not happen because price points are the only driver for that market.

I admire Hadco's bravery in coming to the market with a unique and functional response to the advances in LED technology. I do not expect that their move will prompt others to enter the fray. Their LED luminaires will sell to the so-called "early adopters" but not to the mainstream. The jump to a $300.00 per fixture average over the current installed average of $200.00 per fixture will not be one that is easy to make since the price premium depends on technical savvy that is of complete uninterest to the consumer. As it happens I have a client base tilted toward the high end but I can think of only a handful of instances where I could recommend a conversion to these LED adapted luminaires. When your product line is mired in the aestheticly ho-hum you don't ask people to purchase something that looks exactly like something else at twice the price.

It is very difficult to sell a tool for the price of a jewel and this has led many manufacturers to develop luminaires designed to look high tech (and jewel-like) to match the high tech of the LED light engine. If you would like to see some samples of this trend go to the lumiled.com website where there are links to current applications for their "Luxeon" line. Their site has been bookmarked on my computer for years. There is also an LED online newsletter at ledmonthly.com to which one can subscribe.